First exciting, then cosy

Yesterday evening was just great. The girls were dancing and singing their songs till... he came, he came, Sinterklaas. And he brought a lot of gifts: such as a serious pile of beautiful books, Schleich animals (horses and dogs), a (lovely old-fashioned) wooden spinning top, a lift bridge for the wooden train (L's heart's desire), glittering tights (for M of course), a black leotard (the first black to wear for M anyway) and even (something their mother would never give ;)) nailpolish.
For the day after some pics to taste how it was.

Another secret

Of course Sinterklaas visited school too. Yesterday all classmates of M received a felted pouch for their so called diatonic Choroi flute.
There's another Sinterklaas secret, this time for M (who I strictly keep away from my blog and I-phone these days): weeks ago I attended a parents evening where we were teached how to make a felted piece of fabric. This was a new experience for me and I enjoyed doing it a lot. We were asked to personally embellish and finish the pouch at home. Yes, I'll do, Sinterklaas said.

Swapping

Kristel of Vlijtig and I know each other for a long time. We are different and at the same time have a lot in common. When she saw this scarf she asked me to make one for her daughter. We agreed on a practical swap of Sinterklaas presents, so we could make them in daytime. And so became swapping a new experience for me.
I sent her this post: a scarf on which I pinned some mini-presents for her two daughters. Hopefully they all like them. Have a look at Kristel's blog which beauties she made for M!

Stretched cabinet

In our house we have quite a lot made of birch plywood. So is this little cabinet in L's bedroom. I love the bit strange and stretched proportions. In our former house it was designed for hanging with reading lamps above our bed.
Lately I covered the back with a nice fabric of Heather Bailey. The two lamps are still not in use, and plans are made to make a pinboard underneath the cabinet. I'll report about that, but be patient.

Busy

Okay, I said to myself, you have no time to do a self-made present for your birthday girl next door in these busy days. So I bought a present. But... when I made a supersmall present for Janne (I'll tell you later) I suddenly made another one for Jil.
And thanks to these girls I did my first button covering! See here (and soon after if you are curious) the result.

In secret

My youngest is really fond of several books of Elsa Beskow. On 5 December she may add Around the year to her small collection. I love to read them and together we admire the pictures.
For school we traditionally make Sinterklaas presents. This week I attended a cozy parents evening, where all parents painted the most beautiful music boxes for their children. This little box Sinterklaas will bring along for L. Hopefully she likes the little painting of her and her big sister...

Less popular

Another toy (that my children unfortunately kind of leave on the bottom of the toy basket...) is this embellished glove. I think I better reintroduce it to my youngest.
To comfort me, do you maybe like it?

Old toy

Long time ago I made my eldest this ball. Especially the beams of the sun collected a lot of love!
Now I notice the ball is still choosen to play with. This afternoon I discovered a little hole in the felt and repaired it right away.

Doing business

My boyfriend is freshly starting a new company. And he's enthusiastic! Last week he was suddenly in need of business cards, to spread on a network meeting. Though unquietly surrounded by children, we managed together this design. He ordered a stock at Moo and for direct use some at the local copy shop. The site of Moo makes me greedy too...
Yesterday the colorful cards arrived. M was the first receiver. She picked a pink one. Of course.

Forgotten...

Last sunday my jogging friend told me about the arrival of Sinterklaas in Rotterdam. I think it's because we were still in St. Martin's atmosfere, that we totally forgot to go there!
But since that day there are plenty of Sinterklaas activities in our house: M and L put their shoes next to the terrace door (we have no chimney) in great expectation, are wrapping fake presents (each of them got half a roll of Sinterklaas wrapping paper in their shoes), wore Sint and Piet costumes, made this Sinterklaas table (autumn disappeared in a box again...), read big red books again and again.
And I? Yesterday I was drawing, while M was watching, and this morning I added the drawing to the table. Next week we'll take our children to another entry of another Sinterklaas.